The spot prices of most memory finished products have been pulled up again, and the domino effect triggered by the price - hike tide continues to emerge!

Since the third quarter, memory manufacturers have successively controlled resource supply and slowed down the shipping rhythm. Even the supply of some DRAM resources has been put on hold. In a blink of an eye, as we enter the second half of the last quarter of this year, with the upstream supply showing no signs of improvement and the market continuously depleting inventory, the contradiction between supply and demand for memory in the spot market has become more and more intense, further strengthening the mentality of memory suppliers to control goods and be reluctant to sell. Under the continuous impact of the overall tightening of resource supply, most memory finished products continue the price - increasing trend.

However, the soaring prices of NAND/DRAM are having a strong domino - like effect on the consumer market. On the one hand, the price transmission mechanism is spreading to the consumer terminal at an accelerated pace. Mobile phone manufacturers with relatively low inventory are the first to bear the brunt. Many high - end new mobile phone models of mobile phone manufacturers have successively increased their initial launch prices to relieve cost pressure. Recently, in the PC market, which has an inventory buffer of one to two quarters, although the impact of memory supply is limited in the short term, PC OEMs such as ASUS have publicly and clearly stated that they will adjust product prices under appropriate circumstances in the future.

On the other hand, the instability of memory supply is intensifying market concerns. When terminals such as mobile phones cannot obtain a stable and sufficient supply of memory chips, mobile phone manufacturers may cut down on the production of low - end models with thin profit margins, thus reducing the overall output of the mobile phone market. The demand for supporting hardware such as CPUs, power management chips, and displays will also be affected, hitting the entire mobile phone supply chain.

In terms of upstream resources, the price of Flash Wafer remained unchanged recently, while the price of DDR continued to rise. Among them, the prices of DDR4 16Gb 3200/16Gb eTT/8Gb 3200/8Gb eTT/4Gb eTT were adjusted to $28.00/$7.50/$10.00/$4.00/$1.68 respectively; the prices of DDR5 24Gb Major/16Gb Major/16Gb eTT were adjusted to $25.00/$18.00/$9.00 respectively.

As the price of DDR4 resources rises, channel suppliers keep increasing the price of DDR4 memory modules following the cost increase. Under the effect of price transmission, the offline channel and online retail prices of some memory modules have doubled cumulatively. The successive significant price increases by channel suppliers not only dampen the purchasing motivation of downstream customers but also make the actual sales of the whole machine with a synchronized price increase more difficult. Meanwhile, channel DDR5 and SSD are still trapped in the upstream supply dilemma and have suspended quotations and order - taking.

Facing the continuous tight supply of upstream NAND and DRAM resources, the overall strategy of industry suppliers is to give priority to ensuring the supply to core customers. With the overall price increase of resources and the continuous resonance of supply instability, although the overall demand - bearing capacity is insufficient in the general price - increasing market, industry suppliers are reluctant to ship on a large scale and are determined to continue raising the prices of memory finished products, even extending the product delivery period. Given that memory manufacturers' NAND supply remains tight, industry suppliers are more cautious in controlling the production and shipment of high - capacity SSDs such as 2TB, which consume a large amount of wafers. In addition, industry suppliers recently urgently purchased small - batch high - priced DDR particles to replenish inventory, and it is expected that this part of the cost will be further transmitted to DIMM finished products in the future.

According to supply - chain news, the NAND ASP released by memory manufacturers has reached $0.1/GB, and the price in the spot market is even higher. Recently, there have been memory suppliers snapping up goods in the spot market. Even some traders are willing to purchase embedded eMMC at high prices, and the overall atmosphere of trade speculation remains high. As resource prices keep rising and the annual performance is almost completed, memory suppliers continue to raise the prices of eMMC and UFS products. Besides normal product delivery according to the signed agreements, they generally control order - taking.